PayPal Money Market Fund, Is It Safe?

I have had a PP money market fund for about three years and I'm very pleased with it. They pay dividends once a month. Even though I despise PP in general and consider it a necessary evil, their money market is a nice way to earn few cent a month.

PayPal are a reputable company and there should be no problem with giving them your SSN. I believe that, by law, US companies have to make returns to the IRS if they are paying out more than a certain figure annually to individuals and companies (other than employees). This probably means that they need your SSN on file both to verify that you are a US citizen and also so that they can make the necessary returns if the amount of interest you earn is greater than the minimum amount. Whether the fund is safe depends very much on what investments are involved in generating the interest rate offered. Since PayPal are a reputable organisation (though NOT a bank) and in the light of the recent economic problems with investments that proved unsafe, I would expect them to have paid reasonable attention to the security of the investments that underpin the savings accounts they are offering. I am not a US citizen, so I am not very familiar with the tax laws as they apply to banking institutions. My information above is based on what little I know about payments to self-employed and independent contractors.

Hi cuttyrish, Yeah even i have heard about the interest that it pays to the balance in the paypal account. But i am not in US so even if it is available i don't have the opportunity of getting interest rate to my balance for paypal account. Social security number is needed for the verification of your presence in the country. So i think there will not be any problem in submitting it. If you hesitate to submit your number then contact paypal team for the alternative. keep smiling and happy mylotting :)